Siliconera Speaks Up: E3 Reflections

Now that E3 is done and over with, what did you think? What was the most exciting thing you saw come out of it?

Jenni: I think I expected a bit more from E3 2009. It seemed like the majority of announcements and games displayed were all games that we knew were going to be there. Plus all of the leaks sort of ruined many of the things that were supposed to be surprises.

Nintendo definitely made E3 for me this year though. With the exception of the lackluster vitality sensor, the company really showed off some games with a lot of possibility. I’m now incredibly excited for Metroid: Other M, Golden Sun DS, Style Savvy, WarioWare DIY, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports Resort.

Louise: The showroom floor felt less crowded than the last “real” E3 I went to. Maybe because there weren’t any major consoles being unveiled, but things certainly felt a lot more calm. If all E3′s could be like this, I’d be pleased.

As far as games go, I was happy with the Nintendo and 360 line-up. Last.fm on the 360 is a great idea and I’m surprised it took them so long to bring this feature. I am surprised that Nintendo is bringing out another Mario Galaxy so soon, but that’s a good thing. New Super Mario Brothers on the Wii was one of the best things I saw this year. From what I’ve played with it, it’s going to be a blast with friends — but I do wish that it had online support.

As for most exciting thing? Scribblenauts. The game is just so full of silly potential. I really hope it delivers on what it promises and really has a robust dictionary of words.

Ishaan: This year’s E3 was great in so many ways. Every single publisher had tons of games to show off, even if they were mostly games that we already knew about. More importantly, this E3 provided us with answers to a lot of questions that had been bubbling for a long time. Microsoft and Sony both showed off the direction they intend to go in with regard to motion control, so we can all finally stop speculating about that. It was also nice to finally just have that damned Metal Gear on 360 announcement out there. Scratch another off the heated debates list. (Note to self: Never believe anything Kojima says.)

Nintendo impressed this year, too, with Golden Sun and Metroid: Other M, both of which I get all tingly just thinking about. And with Team Freaking Ninja? It’s good to see them going after their core audience so aggressively. Other highlights for me were Alan Wake, God of War III, Gran Turismo PSP, Crystal Bearers (great to have a release timeframe for that) and Red Steel 2, all of which look very promising. We said this for the year before last, but 2009 and 2010 look like they’re going to be among the best years in game releases.

Spencer:Shiren the Wanderer getting an international release was one of the most unexpected announcements at E3. Sure, some Sega games like Shining Soul and Puyo Pop Fever came stateside via Atlus, but Shiren? The US version of Pop ‘n Music caught me off guard too.

Since the show was bigger many publisher chose to focus on their blockbusters instead of showing their entire line up. Sega brought Bayonetta (which was awesome) and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, but left their fleet of RPGs like Phantasy Star Zero, Bleach: The 3rd Phantom, and Sands of Destruction in the office. While its true that RPGs don’t demo as well as a Sonic racing game I was surprised that Sega didn’t promote these games at all.

Little King’s Story is a game to watch out for. Since Xseed didn’t have a booth it probably won’t get much mainstream coverage, but we’ll be talking more about it here. I’m sure a lot of people are saying this, but Heavy Rain has potential. The elastic storyline is a good concept. Even though I’ve seen it before I was still excited to see Demon’s Souls. It’s menacing difficulty and online community features should make it a (sleeper?) hit.

The most exciting thing? Is that you don’t have to be at E3 to experience most of it. The press conferences and all of the headline announcements were trailers for games far in the future. You didn’t have to walk through the Los Angeles Convention Center three days for that! Unless you were lining up to play stuff or doing interviews E3 is pretty much in your home. Now, if publishers just released online demos during the show…

I love trailers that feature clips from a number of games. What ever happened to this practice? And where was the energy?? It’s important to really demonstrate the fun and excitement behind the products.

Zefiro Torna

That was what really bothered me as well, the lack of the “montage of upcoming games” trailers that would typically be seen at press conferences. Their presence would make it seem reassuring that each platform had a wealth of seemingly fascinating games incoming without sifting so much through the flood of reports. There’s also not to forget that those sorts of trailers helped a huge variety of games receive the exposure and interest they needed before the show floor reporting would begin.

Malek86

Shiren 3 for me. But I’ll admit SMG2 sounds pretty good.

Tyler

Did you guys go to the Majesco booth to play A Boy and his Blob? It looks like a minICO, unlike the original. It has a HUG botton!

EvilAkito

There were plenty of great games at E3 this year, but for me, they were all drown out by Metroid: Other M. I’m just so curious about the game. With Prime 3, I pretty much already knew what to expect, and I already knew it was going to be good. But that was part of the problem. Even though I had no fear of it turning out bad, I also had no hope that it would greatly exceed my expectations. The complete opposite is true for Metroid: Other M. As crazy as it sounds, I think that the risk of the game being a total bomb only makes me more excited. I really don’t know what to expect out of it, and in the best case scenario, it could end up blowing Prime completely out of the water. Now just add in the fact that for the first time since Super Metroid, Yoshio Sakamoto will be in charge of a console-released Metroid game, and he is working together with Team Ninja to make it happen. The sheer nerd-factor there is insane.

Chow

I quite enjoyed the games they had for Sony, including Heavy Rain and The Last Guardian. I enjoyed the PSP Go!, but was really disappointed after hearing the finer details about it after E3. It’s too bad Sony had so many leaks prior to the show, though, as that really lessened their impacts.

Other than the Metroid announcement, I felt Nintendo really failed at this show.

I was disappointed that both Sony and Microsoft are going the way of motion controls. I still think it’s really unnecessary to have, and it will be very annoying for a hardcore gamer to play games, especially if they spend extra development time programming the “extra” optional motion controls. Or even worse, go Nintendo’s way and make it mandatory for 99% of the library.

However, while I realize I said I was disappointed in both Sony and Microsoft for their motion controls, I did find Project Natal very intriguing. But I don’t expect it to work as well as the mockup video of it showed.

In the end, I think Microsoft had an overall edge over Sony this year. But I did enjoy both of their presentations.

http://twitter.com/matty_125 matty

“The most exciting thing? Is that you don’t have to be at E3 to experience most of it. ”
Yeah, I can read about those in the newspaper!
That said, if I were there I would skip all that and just rumble through the smaller panels or booths. Everyone has something to say about the 3 big conferences yadda yadda, but no one said anything about Dementium II!

Aoshi00

Seeing so many beautiful mug shots of Samus from Team Ninja’s Metroid was certainly unexpected and exciting. I hope the gameplay is better than Prime, I just have trouble getting into that series. New Super Mario Bros Wii was a delight, I thought Galaxy 2 was a rehash that came too quick.

The other impressive ones definitely go to the Last Guardian and Heavy Rain. However, it’s not too refreshing due to its similar setting to Ico and Colossus as the last of the trilogy. I’m concerned about Heavy Rain’s game progress too, the game still goes on after one character dies, so if you messed up often enough does that mean you have to start the game all over again.

Looking forward to what they would cook up for MGS Rising. For some reason I’m not that interested in seeing the Outer Haven Big Boss.. the Peace Maker trailer wasn’t that exciting either, except at the end there’s another beastly Metal Gear clunker prototype. David Hayter better come back for the voice of Snake.

Both Natal and Sony’s motion device are certainly ambitious and promising, imagine how much more accurate if that was used on Dragon Quest Swords. The only drawback is needing to buy yet another accessory, and frankly I don’t want to play casual games, unless one has kids in the family. The other thing I’m most excited was the Black Wii, been waiting for that sucker forever (remember there were supposed to be five colors, and not the freaking dyed straps!), but that wasn’t announced at E3.

All in all, I don’t think one has hardly anything to complain about as a gamer after E3, there’s a crap load of games coming out any way you look at it.

jj984jj

NSMBWii is a delight and SMG2 is the rehash? How does that work? They both seem to have new power ups and add Yoshi, but Yoshi looks like a much more interesting addition to Galaxy than he does to NSMBWii.

Aoshi00

New SMB Wii seems more innovative and from the demos I’ve seen, it’s an excellent party game like back in the days, helping your friends out or getting each other killed for potential laughs. A 4-player platformer seems even more fun than Smash Bros.

Yoshi is definitely a great addition to both games, but it just seems not so long ago we played Galaxy, so it feels more of the same w/ the same engine is all. Who am I kidding, Mario will be day 1 purchase for anyone.

Vino (Tim N)

Does no one like the announcement for Final Fantasy XIV?

Aoshi00

I thought when the word “Online” popped up, reaction went from elation to disappointment? When Jack Tretton said 14, I think people were thinking about a main installment.. So for me, it’s nothing to see until 15, another good number wasted.

jj984jj

It was like 90 seconds of shock only to be plummeted down to earth again. Then I started laughing, we’ve known about Rapture since 2005 but who knew they’d reveal it like that? The only other shock I had during E3 was Team Ninja. I was like: What Team Ninja X Nintendo? Project M? OMG WHAT METROID? And unlike FFXIV my excitement didn’t go away at the end of the trailer, actually it went up when I found out Yoshio Sakamoto was actively involved with the project.

Roos

I was massivley dissapointed with atlus’ super robot wars OG no show and confirmation. I hate you atlus.

Video game stories from other sites on the web. These links leave Siliconera.